By now regular readers of this column know how much I appreciate good gear because it’s an investment that will last. If you are a hard core outdoorsman/woman, then you know how much you rely on your gear to make your outings successful.

Outdoor Retailer, the largest trade show for outdoor retailers, wrapped up its summer show in Salt Lake City, Utah, and it’s been showing off some surprisingly sweet gear trends. Much of what is being reported on is electronic gadgetry, especially portable ways to charge your electronic devices. Some of these items are so new that they are not yet available for purchase.

Before I get in to some of the gear, the significance of this industry show is played out in these statistics:

According to the Outdoor Foundation’s 2013 Outdoor Participation Report, nearly 142 million Americans aged six on up took part in some sort of outdoor recreation in 2012.

That same report estimates that those 142 million people participated in a total of 12.4 billion outings of various types.

The most popular activities were Running, Jogging, and Trail Running (53.2 million participants). Hiking came in at #5 with 34.5 million participants.

It’s easy to see why this show commands so much attention.

Brunton's Hydrogen Reactor weighs in around 8.5 ounces with one of its Hydrocore cells, providing about 4500 mAh worth of energy-enough to charge three iPhones.

Here are a few items I spotted:

BRUNTON. One of the great surprises for me is seeing how the Brunton company is moving forward with their line of power sources for the outdoors. This is a company best known for their compasses. Outside of a good knife, I love a great compass and Brunton makes some of the best compasses in the world. I became an even bigger fan of them when they made their decision to move their China compass manufacturing back to Riverton, Wyoming in 2012. They’ve come out with a new portable power source that is backed by rechargeable hydrogen cells. Make no mistake, the Hydrogen Reactor is a tremendous leap in green technology. Brunton’s screw-in Hydrocore cells are safe for air travel (Lithium Ion batteries do have restrictions aboard aircraft) and can be recharged by water using the company’s H2O Hydrolizer. The price point for the Hydrogen Reactor is a little more expensive than other portable energy sources at $169.99, but this is cutting edge technology. Extra fuel cells will run about $20 each.

BIOLITE. While not exactly a backpacking item, BioLite’s BaseCamp stove is a high-tech hoot that got the attention of GearJunkie, Men’s Journal, and Outside. The stove was such a hit that the company’s Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign raised more than $1 million for development. It can cook your food, provide light when you cook those late night meals, and charge your tech devices. That’s right, it is a self-contained biomass burner that can generate power from a wood fire. When people talk high-tech, “lightweight” is usually part of that conversation. Not so for the BaseCamp. The cast iron beast weighs in at a hefty 18 pounds and will lift $300 of excess weight from your wallet.

The FlameStower is compact and lightweight, providing an average of 2.5W of power to charge your devices.

FLAMESTOWER. Much more compact than the BaseCamp stove, FlameStower works on the same principle of converting heat to electricity, but this time it can be used with a compact backpacking stove or placed in to your campfire. Another Kickstarter crowdfunded project, this one was developed by a couple of Stanford grad students whose benevolence from their fundraising helped a Kenyan inventor create harvesting machines for his village. The FlameStower weighs a slight 10 ounces and is 7.75″ x 2.25″ x 1″ when it’s collapsed and can generate as much as 3 watts of charging power. The unit sells for $89.99 online, direct from FlameStower.

Goal Zero's compact Venture 30 power source can charge two devices simultaneously and can be recharged via USB connection or with one of Goal Zero's solar panels.

GOAL ZERO. I love this charger for its $99 price and the fact that it is waterproof (even in use), has dual high-speed USB ports, and can be recharged to full capacity in 4 hours by USB or nine hours by Goal Zero’s Nomad 7 solar unit. There is one flat, integrated USB cable that has a standard USB connector on one end and a microUSB connector on the other. The palm-sized unit weighs less than 9 ounces and supplies 7800 mAh of juice. A rechargeable NiMH battery provides about 2000-2500 mAh.

Another home run by Goal Zero, their Switch 10 portable power supply is also a fan and a focusable beam flashlight with provided accessories.

Another really sweet Goal Zero product is its Switch 10 capsule recharger/USB multi-tool kit. It looks like many other popular capsule-type portable power units, but it’s really more like something Q would have come up with in a James Bond movie. Scouting’s official blog, Bryan on Scouting has deemed this a must-have gear piece from the Outdoor Retailer summer show. The “kit” comes with the power cell and four other pieces that include an adjustable beam flashlight head that provides 160 lumens of LED light, a fan, a flat USB cable, and the Nomad 7 solar panel. The replaceable Lithium Ion battery cell stores about 3000 mAh. There is a LED charge indicator on the unit and it has the ability to allow device charging while plugged in to charge itself. That’s a lot of stuff for $129. Unfortunately, we have to patiently wait for it to be available, maybe as late as Spring of 2015.

ENERPLEX. Charge while you’re actively on the trail with the Packr series of daypacks that are outfitted with a built-in solar panel. That’s an interesting idea, but for backpacking and long-term camping I would recommend their Jumpr series of portable power, 10 different power capacities and enclosures.

The choices for portable power in the wilderness are excellent, but of the items I discovered, I find the Switch 10 offers the greatest practicality and the best price point, especially with an included solar charger that can work with other rechargeable USB devices.

This isn’t the end of the Outdoor Retailer gear, either. I’ll present some of the other gear items later.

About This Blog

Kim Fatica is a marketing professional and former Emmy Award-winning television photojournalist and operations manager originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He’s also a lifelong volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America, where he’s been involved with the program since he was a Cub Scout in 1970. He earned his Eagle Scout rank in 1976 and continued on in service as an adult leader, currently serving as an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 22 in Tampa.

He lived his dream of backpacking through the Sangre de Cristo mountain range with his son, Noah, at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. The 12-day trek during the summer of 2012 took them on a memorable 80-mile journey that went through areas near the historic Santa Fe Trail.

Kim earned his undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Bowling Green State University and holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.